The Little Things
by LadyShinigami12
Summary: Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy have been suffering from loneliness in their fifth year. Can they help each other? And can that get their fathers' to be okay with it? Warning: some violence near the end.
1. A horrible first day

**I wrote this a while ago, but I'm not really sure I like it. Well, that is to say, I like the first few chapters, but then it kinda turns**

Rose knew Albus was doing everything he could to involve her in what he and his friends did, but it was no use. The two were best friends, but he had lived with Brian and Richard for four years now. She tried to laugh at their jokes, but they were all inside jokes and she had no idea what they meant.

"I'm gonna go patrol the halls some more." She said finally. It was a weak excuse to get away, but if she sat there another minute, she was going to burst.

Albus looked at her with concern, "Do you want me to go with you?" The two were both made prefects that year, and they had already done a sweep of the train that day.

"No, it's fine." And she slid out the door.

She couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts, where she would be too busy to think about friends, or lack there of. Between Prefect duties, Quidditch practice (if she made the team again, she wasn't the best keeper ever) and studying for the O.W.L.s, she would have little time for friends anyway.

She past by where her Lily and Hugo were laughing with a group of other 3rd years. They were whispering mischievously, but she couldn't interfere just because of that so she kept walking.

About then, she saw someone she wished desperately she hadn't. She tried to turn around quickly, but it was too late.

"Hey Weasley!" Sylvia Baker, a Ravenclaw girl, hated Rose with all her being, and the feelings were certainly mutual. They often fought over a number of issues. Rose knew she was smarter than Sylvia, but proving it was difficult. Sylvia's hand was much quicker in class.

Slowly, Rose turned around to face her. "Hello, Baker."

"Saw you in the Prefect meeting. I was wondering, did you get the badge for being the most stuck-up witch in all of Gryffindor, or did your family connections get you on the inside again?"

"Baker, don't you have kittens to be drowning or something?"

Baker smiled and Rose knew she had only started. "Where are your little cousins? They decide you weren't worth being friends with either?"

"Go away, Baker." Rose stalked off trying to get anywhere but there.

"At least I have friends, Weasley!" Baker shouted at her.

Rose shivered as she remembered when she first met Baker. She and Albus had sat next to her on the train to Hogwarts, and had even answered all her questions as best as they could. She was a muggleborn, and Rose was disgusted as she remembered just how nice she had been to Baker, and how Baker had returned her kindness with jealousy and ignorance.

Her mood did not improve over the course of the train ride. She saw the trolly coming and decided to get some cauldron cakes to cheer herself up. Unfortunately, as she approached, she saw Scorpius Malfoy also buying treats. He had also been made prefect, and Rose had to admit he deserved it. She had overheard all the things her parents and uncles and aunts said about his father, and realized he was much better. He was actually quiet most of the time, except in class where he would answer the questions Rose didn't.

Unfortunately, he still was very cold to any Gryffindor students, especially the Potter-Weasley cousins. It wasn't just old family rivalries, either. Her cousin James enjoyed playing tricks on him. Rose knew she had earned her prefect badge, but she sometimes wondered if Headmistress Sprout hadn't named her and Albus prefects partly to keep James under control.

Malfoy looked up as she approached. "Weasley." He grunted as he handed his money over to the witch and started to turn away.

"Hey, Malfoy!" Rose and Malfoy both turned around as James and his gang, which included their cousin, Dominique, approached. James had that grin he always gave when he was about to do something stupid.

"James," Rose interrupted before he could reach Malfoy, "Don't make me give you detention before we even reach the school."

"Oh, calm down, Rosie!" James said as his friends snickered at her admittedly empty threat. Detention did nothing to stop James. "I heard Malfoy here has been made Prefect! I wanted to see him try and punish me." Sure enough, he turned his gaze to Malfoy who quickly realized he was the only Slytherin around.

"Oh, leave off James. I will write your mother if you try anything this year." Her mother had told her this particular trick had helped her control Uncles Fred and George at school, and it might work on James.

James turned his gaze back to his cousin. "Fine. I'll leave off this time. But I'd watch my back if I were you, Malfoy." James turned around and walked back to his compartment. His friends were whispering things like 'buzzkill' to themselves.

Rose knew she would regret this when it came time for Quidditch tryouts. James was known for being a particularly hard Captain.

Malfoy had already left. She bought her cauldron cakes and went off to patrol more

_What a horrible first day_ she thought.

Scorpius Malfoy hated to admit James Potter scared him. While Potter was always surrounded by friends, Malfoy only had a few Slytherins he hung out with. Why he volunteered to go and get them all snacks by himself, he never knew.

Potter was very good with a number of jinxes his mother had taught him, which Malfoy generally found himself on the other end from. Weasley had saved him that time, though he hated that thought too, but this year was going to be hard now that he was a prefect. Potter would probably double his attacks.

He had to admit, Weasley probably made a better prefect than him. He hadn't really done much patrolling, and he knew it would be impossible to do anything about Potter, but she certainly could. She was also (barely) smarter than him. He might answer just as many questions as her, but he was sure she could answer all of them if given the chance, while he honestly had no idea about the questions he didn't answer.

As he walked back to his compartment, he saw Jeffrey Goyle. It was actually hard to miss him, as the burly seventh year took up most of the hallway. Honestly, he had never really talked to him, as he wasn't really good with words, but Malfoy realized he had to now. Goyle had his wand pointed right at a couple of first years and it looked like it would turn ugly.

"Goyle!" he shouted down the hallway. Goyle hardly noticed. Malfoy walked up to them. "Goyle, what on earth are you doing?"

"This little freak poisoned me!" he said, or grunted rather.

"He was taking all our candy!" the little girl in front said. There was something familiar about her. "Not my fault he decided to eat the skiving snackboxes." Sure enough, a little bit of blood was coming down Goyle's nose, though it seemed he had stopped the flow.

"Skiving snackboxes are not allowed at Hogwarts. I'm afraid I'll have to confiscate them." He took the candy boxes from them, although he was sure he didn't get it all. He now recognized the girl as Roxanne Weasley. Although she was dark like her mother, her features looked similar to the other Weasley cousins.

"And Goyle, stop taking candy from first years." Once the first years walked back to their own compartment, he continued on.

Just as he was about to enter, he tripped. He knew at once it was a jinx. At first, he thought Goyle had come back, but the bought of laughter told him it was actually Potter back with his gang.

"No other prefects to help you now, Malfoy!" Potter said behind him. Malfoy got up, drawing his wand.

"I don't need other prefects to help me!" he said, a little more confidently than he felt.

Then, the compartment next to them opened up and David Nott walked out, his own wand drawn against Potter and his friends. Malfoy was immediately grateful. "Back off Potter, while you still can."

He wished Nott hadn't said that. Potter would only take that as a challenge, and sure enough, Potter smiled, and at the same time, Malfoy, Nott, Potter, and his girlfriend, Michelle Jordan and his friend Drake Canton all sent out curses, jinxes, and hexes at the same time.

Malfoy thought he might have hit Jordan with a bat-bogey hex, but suddenly his legs locked together and he fell down.

Potter and his friends stuffed Malfoy and Nott back into their compartment before walking away, laughing.

Malfoy had difficulty getting his wand, which had rolled away from him. Once he grasped it, though, he was able to remove his own jinx and Nott's.

"God, I hate that Potter!" Nott snarled.

"Me too." Malfoy said. From the way things looked, this year would go about the same as all the others. And that wasn't good.


	2. Realizations

The first two months of school didn't go too badly for Rose. She had to encourage Albus to get his homework done, but she herself was staying on top of things. Like always, she was competing in classes with Baker and Malfoy, and like always they both made her look like a fool. She was only glad Gryffindor couldn't have a class with both Ravenclaw and Slytherin, or else she knew she would be in trouble

As October neared the end, however, she had her first really big fight with Albus.

"Baker? You're going out with Baker?" She was practically spitting at him.

"I'm just taking her to the Halloween party. She asked me! What was I supposed to say?" As they were both cousins of Dominique, they were always able to get invitations to the small Halloween party that happened right after the Halloween feast. Dominique's sister, Victoire, had founded it when she was in school, as she thought it was criminal there were so few chances at Hogwarts to show off in dress robes. Rose and Albus had always gone together as cousins, just so they were never left out.

"You were supposed to say no! Al, it's-it's Baker!"

"You know, Sylvia's not so bad, once you get to know her."

But Rose never found out why Sylvia wasn't 'so bad,' because she left quickly.

Without Al, though, there were very few people to talk to. She had taken to snapping at everyone, whether she was telling off first years or confiscating dungbombs. Eventually, she just stayed in the library on her off hours.

Dominique approached her one day between classes. Alone of her siblings, she had the Weasley hair, but it only made her look prettier. She usually was around her friends, though, and only really talked with Rose on family get-togethers. "You're coming to the party, right? Albus said you might not."

Rose nodded, "Don't worry, I'll be there. Denise Albert mentioned her brother in Hufflepuff didn't have a date, so I asked him." This wasn't completely true. She had overheard Denise say this, and taken advantage of it. Most of her roommates didn't really talk to her unless they had homework questions.

"Thomas Albert? You could do better than him, surely."

Rose smiled weakly at her. The truth was, boys usually ignored her. None of them made fun of her, but none seemed to take an interest, either. "Oh, Albert's fine. Besides, who else would I go with?"

Dominique looked at her with concern. "Anyone! You're beautiful." Rose looked at her strangely. No one except her father had really called her beautiful. "Tell you what, come to my room an hour before the party. We'll get you a better date by the end of the night."

"You really think it'll work?" Rose asked her.

"How do you think I got James and Michelle together?"

Malfoy had finally managed to get an invitation to the Halloween party. He practically had to give his arm to get it, but here he was.

The truth was, Nott's little sister Cathy had gotten the invite. She had done some favor for Lily Potter and she had invited them.

Malfoy didn't really have any feelings whatsoever for Cathy, but David had asked him to do it as a favor. Besides, he might as well get to go to one of these parties before he left Hogwarts.

Cathy did not prove to be a great source of conversation. She did a great deal of talking about everything from her favorite singer to parties she had gone too, and everything she said didn't seem to either make much sense, or be of much importance. Mostly he kept to the food table and drank so much pumpkin juice to avoid talking with her, he thought he might drown.

The new hip band, The Hippogriff Riders, was playing in a corner of the room, and a few couples had begun dancing. Cathy kept glancing at him to see if he wanted to dance, but he had a mind to keep off the dance floor. James Potter was there with his girlfriend, and for the moment appeared not to notice Malfoy's presence. He wanted to keep it that way.

As the door opened he was one of the few people who instinctively looked to see who had come, just out of curiosity. Dominique Weasley had come in, wearing a beautiful gold dress. Malfoy had to admit she was quite attractive, not that she would ever look twice at him. She waved to a couple of her Gryffindor friends and immediately found one that would dance with her.

He hadn't noticed at first, but another couple had walked in behind Dominique. Malfoy was surprised Thomas Albert got anyone interested in coming with him, given he had the brains of a pigeon and the looks of an orangutan. He looked to the girl on his arm.

He had to do a double take. Walking arm-in-arm with Albert was none other than Rose Weasley. Her dress was a brilliant sapphire that brought out her eyes. He had never noticed how blue her eyes were. Her hair, which was normally bushy, was relaxed somehow. She wore jewelry on her wrists and ears and a necklace that rested just above her chest.

Suddenly, he felt very warm. He had seen her in class all the time, but he just realized he had never really _seen_ her before. The way her hair curled just so it would frame her face, and the pale, yet not too pale, complexion of her skin.

"Malfoy?" he heard a voice next to him, and looked down at the look of concern on Cathy's face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. What were you saying?"

"I was saying that Weasley girl is really showing off, isn't she?"

"Oh, um, yeah." He couldn't help looking back over at Rose. When had he started thinking of her as Rose?

"Oh, not you too!" Cathy said sharply to him.

"What?"

"You! You're falling all over her just like all the other boys!"

Another surge of emotion ran through him, though this one seemed angrier, and jealous.

"All of them?"

"Of course! Even my stupid brother!" There was that jealousy again. He'd have to talk to Nott. No, that would reveal everything. "It's only because her great-grandmother is a Veela, anyway."

"What?" A second later, he realized that Cathy was talking about Dominique. There were honestly too many Weasleys. "I don't like her, Cathy." He said, almost reassuring himself more than Cathy.

"Oh. Sorry, it's just, she's not that pretty, you know."

"Yeah." Cathy was right. She wasn't _that_ pretty. Oh, he couldn't lie to himself, right now he found her positively stunning. But why did he like her all of a sudden? He had never really given her much thought before. Why now?

He looked down at his pumpkin juice. Of course, how had he not seen it before? She was certainly clever enough to do something like this! But he would have expected this kind of trickery from her cousins, not her.

Anger swelled up inside him. Oh, they were probably all just waiting any second for him to just do something stupid. Well, he knew what he had to do.

Albert had gone to get the couple punch. Malfoy said something offhand to Cathy and stalked over to where Rose was talking to her cousin Dominique.

"I don't know, Dominique," she was saying as he approached. Had her voice always sounded so pretty to him? "I don't think this is working. No one's noticing me any more than usual."

Malfoy grabbed her arm and pulled her around roughly. "I know what you did, Weasley."

"What? What did I do?" she asked him sounding surprised and confused. Oh, she was a good liar!

He didn't want to scream it out, to admit that he'd fallen for such an obvious trick, so he pulled her so his mouth was closer to her ear. Her hair smelled so sweet. Quickly he whispered "You fed me love potion!" He pushed her away from her.

"Is this guy bothering you, Rosie?" James had left his girlfriend and come over looking angry.

Malfoy turned around and stormed out, yelling, "I'll have you expelled for this, Weasley!"

Malfoy made his way to the dungeon. He performed well in all of his classes, but his best by far was potions. He began forming the antidote to love potion almost immediately.

He might have been working for hours. His thoughts, however, kept straying up to the party, where a certain girl in a sapphire blue dress was probably dancing with Thomas stupid Albert. He kept having to shake himself when these thoughts came up.

Finally, he'd finished. He chugged it down.

"Scorpius?" a voice asked from the door. He looked up, and saw Rose Weasley standing there, beautiful as ever.

"Damn, now I'm hallucinating!" He looked at the ingredients list in his book. "I included the lace-wing flies and the spider legs, what am I missing?"

"Scorpius. What are you doing?" Rose was right next to him now.

"No, you're not real," he told her, "You're a hallucination, brought on by the presence of a very powerful love potion. Probably aged." He looked over the list of ingredients again. "I included everything! It should work!"

"Scorpius, I'm not a hallucination." She was so close, he could smell her. But he might be imagining the smell. He ignored it.

"Maybe I mixed up the order. Did I put in the beetle larvae first?"

"Scorpius, I never gave you a love potion, and I am not a hallucination." He ignored her still, "What would you do if you didn't think I was a hallucination, out of curiosity?"

For the first time, he looked at her straight in the eyes, which seemed to sparkle. Without really thinking, he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. His insides seemed to explode, but as the feeling died down, a cold shiver washed over him. He shouldn't be able to kiss hallucinations.

Quickly he broke apart from her and backed away. "You're not a hallucination?" he asked. She looked shocked more than anything as she shook her head. "And you didn't give me a love potion?" again she shook her head.

Reality sunk into him like a stone. Suddenly, he could think of only one thing to do.

He ran for it.


	3. Common Enemy

Over the next week, Scorpius avoided Rose like the plague. He didn't look at her in class, and he didn't even acknowledge her existence walking through the hallway.

Rose herself wasn't sure she wanted to talk to him. She had never really thought of him like _that_ before. But she couldn't deny he was attractive, and smart. He didn't have a bad personality, either, although she herself had never exactly had a long conversation with him.

Words from her very first day of Hogwarts came to her as if through time itself, and she distinctly heard her father say, "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie." And she had tried. She usually came just a few points ahead, but she considered it enough.

She also remembered him saying, "Just make sure you don't get too friendly with him." She was pretty sure he would consider the kiss to be too friendly. And yet she couldn't help thinking back on it. Dwelling on it. Imagining it.

She hadn't dared tell anyone about it. She could only too well imagine James' reaction, and every scenario she pictured had Scorpius in the Hospital Wing for a week.

She tried to distract herself with homework. As it was their O.W.L. year, they had plenty of it, so she mainly isolated herself in the library, surrounding herself with books. Usually, she studied for hours, uninterrupted, until one fateful Monday night.

She was writing up her potions essay when she heard a cough above her head. She looked up and was surprised to see Scorpius Malfoy, looking anywhere but at her.

"You're the only one in the entire library that has a copy of A Potion Master's guide" He said to her. "I need it to write my potions essay."

"Don't you have your own copy?" she asked.

He swallowed. "I lost it."

She looked into his face. He was concentrating hard on one of the books on her desk, but she saw his gaze flicker into her eyes.

"Here, pull up a chair. I'm working on my potions essay too, so we can share."

He did as she told him to making sure there was as much space as possible in between them. He took her book and read the passage to himself.

They wrote for about a half an hour in complete silence, pushing the book towards one another, depending on who needed it. Finally, he said to her, "Can I use the book now?" He had apparently been waiting rather impatiently.

"In a moment." She said as she was writing furiously and constantly checking the book.

"Lacewing flies aren't used in that solution. You're thinking of fruit flies." He said almost impatiently.

"What?" She asked she looked over her writing and found he was right, she had used the wrong kind of fly. "Well, since we're correcting, you listed adding roots twice."

"What?" he asked he looked over his own writing and immediately crossed out a line.

The two of them glanced first at each other and then at each other's papers. Silently, they switched and began looking for errors.

"See," Scorpius said as he crossed out one of her lines, "This is why you don't beat Baker on tests. Little things."

Normally, Rose appreciated any insult to Baker, however this time she glared at Malfoy.

"You just don't like her because she's muggleborn," She said

"I don't hate her because she's a m-" Fury almost rolled out of Rose, "Muggleborn, I was going to say muggleborn. No, I hate her because she's a spoiled selfish snob."

Rose had to admit she was surprised at first. But then she absolutely snorted with laughter, because this was so unbelievably true.

Scorpius had laughed a little too, so Madam Brooks had to glare at them from her desk. Malfoy then whispered to her, "I wish I could beat her at something. She's so annoying! You haven't seen her in charms, it's like her arm gravitates toward the ceiling."

"She's like that in transfiguration too." Rose whispered back.

"Yeah, but you're at least smarter than she is. You're-" he stopped himself and blushed redder than she had ever seen him.

She blushed to. She never thought he thought of her that way. "You're really smart too. I bet if you studied more, you'd beat her."

"I do study." He said, rather defensively.

There was silence between them again, but Rose had an idea, and took out her bag. "If you wouldn't mind, could you look over my transfiguration homework too? It's just I don't want to miss any more little things."

He paused and then nodded, giving her back her potions essay, and taking the transfiguration essay. For a brief moment, as she was passing it to him, their hands touched it felt like his skin burned her, or was that just her imagination?

"I could help you study." She said, surprising herself more than anyone.

For the first time that night, he really looked into her eyes for a long time. He swallowed again. "And you could help me," she said quickly, "And then we could both beat Baker."

He nodded. "I would-appreciate-that." His tone was oddly formal. "So, tomorrow night?" He asked nervously.

She shook her head. "No." He looked crestfallen. "I have Quidditch tomorrow, but I can the day after."

Malfoy gave a small smile. "Sure," he said. "That sounds great."

Scorpius tried hard to show no real emotion for Rose, but he couldn't deny he was much happier now that they were at least study partners. His grades were certainly improving, and he really felt he understood the material better.

He didn't think anyone ever saw the two of them together. Potter had rarely stepped into the library during his entire 7 years at Hogwarts, and he didn't seem to want to start.

His time in the library with Rose, if nothing else, gave him something to do. Sure, he had prefect duties once in a while, but Cathy wouldn't talk to him, and had forbidden her brother from talking to him either, so he found himself rather alone in the Slytherin common room.

As November started coming to the end, he found himself looking forward to his study sessions with Rose. They never talked about anything non-school related, unless they were insulting Sylvia Baker. The most personal moment they had was when Rose told him how really betrayed she felt now that her cousin Albus had started dating Baker officially. He could understand. He felt similarly betrayed when David Nott chose his sister over him. But he didn't tell her that.

They avoided the subject of Halloween completely, however, it hung over them like a looming shadow. He knew she knew he liked her, though she never really showed any indication she felt similarly. He sort of wished she had forgotten about it, but he knew she hadn't. Sometimes, though, he secretly wished he could kiss her again.

"Can I see you're Transfiguration notes?" He asked her on the last day before Christmas break.

She handed over the notes silently. She hadn't touched the scroll in front of her.

"Don't you have to finish your History of Magic essay?" he asked her. He was grateful that it was so much easier to talk to her than it had been their first day studying.

She didn't answer. "Is something wrong?" He asked, worried more that she might answer, forcing him to try and comfort her and not show his emotions at the same time.

She bit her lip. "Scorpius?" she asked, "We're friends, right?"

He looked at her in surprise. He had never really considered them anything more than study partners, at least, that's what he told himself. But she looked desperate.

"Of course we're friends." He knew that was the right thing to say, as she broke into a smile and began writing again.

He figured it probably had something to do with Baker, although she didn't say. With Scorpius and Rose working together, they were crushing her in class, and they both made sure they got their hands in the air before she could.

He got plenty of glares from Baker, but he knew Rose was taking the worst of it. Baker seemed to have some sort of vendetta against poor Rose, and he wasn't sure, but he suspected she was only dating Potter, because she knew it would bother Rose.

That's when it hit him. Without Potter, Rose had very few friends. In fact, now that he thought of it, he couldn't really think of any time she just casually talked with anyone. He would sometimes see her sit next to her brother and his friends, but he couldn't imagine 3rd years were good people to talk to.

Baker had probably torn her to bits with this. Well, he would just have to make sure he tore up Baker.


	4. Miserable

**I wanted to take a moment to thank the anonymous reviewer who corrected my 2nd chapter. I can't believe I thought Lily was a Weasley. Anyway, remember when I said it takes a weird turn? Here's where it starts turning.**

When they arrived back at school, Rose was about ready to burst at anyone who talked to her. She spent the majority of the break screaming at her father that she was fifteen years old and she could do what she wanted, while he screamed back that she knew nothing about the Malfoys, and that while she lived under his house, she would do what he wanted.

She was looking forward to seeing Scorpius again, but he soon found that he was treating her like he had right after Halloween. She wondered what his Dad had said to him over break.

Finally, she tracked him down and cornered him as they were leaving potions. "Scorpius, what's wrong? Why have you been avoiding me?" Scorpius wouldn't look her in the eyes. She knew that must mean something bad.

"Rose, we can't be friends." he mumbled and tried to walk away, but she blocked him.

"I know you're dad probably said something about me and my family, my dad tried to as well. You just have to face him! I can handle James and the rest of my cousins, so don't worry about that."

"I just have to face him, huh?" His entire tone had changed. "I don't know how you Weasley's do things, but in my family we stick together. I don't betray my father just for-" At this point he faltered as he looked into her eyes, "just for a girl!" He stared at her for a few seconds as if daring her to say she was worth it. "I-I have to get to Charms." He said quickly as he stalked off.

She couldn't go to the library that day. She couldn't think long enough to work on homework. She just sat in the Gryffindor Common room and stared at the fire.

She felt someone sit next to her. She didn't realize it was Albus until he spoke. "I heard what Malfoy said after potions." Rose didn't respond. "Why didn't you tell me you were seeing him?"

"I wasn't seeing him." She said a little too quickly. "We just studied together. And why would I tell you?" She said, looking at him finally, "You spend all your time snogging Baker now." She looked back at the fire.

There was a moment of silence before he said, "We broke up."

"Can't say I'm sorry." She said, a little colder than she meant to. "Why?"

"You." He answered. She nodded. She could picture the conversation. Baker was full of insults about Rose, and the situation with Malfoy was just too good for her to pass up. However annoying Albus could sometimes be, he wouldn't allow Rose to be insulted.

"Do you want to talk?" Albus asked. Rose shook her head.

She felt other people sit next to her on her other side. James was looking down at her with an unusual look of kindness, and Dominique was sitting on the arm of the couch. Meanwhile, Lily, Hugo and Roxanne had sat on the floor in front of her,

"Albus told us what happened," Dominique said.

"You know," Hugo said, "Dad can be wrong about a lot of things, but I think he might be right about Malfoy."

Rose's eyes began to moisten. She knew he was right, but she didn't want to admit it.

"If you want," James said, "and you don't ask to many questions, Malfoy's entire person can be the color of your choice for several days."

Rose laughed and shook her head. "No, he's a good guy. He's just intimidated by his dad. He-" her voice broke. Her brother and cousins all closed in on her. "He was my only friend that wasn't family."

Lily put her hand on Rose's knee. "Sometimes family is all you need."

"I know. It's just-It's just-He was so nice to me!"

And then she began sobbing into Albus' shoulder as her family converged on her.

Scorpius was miserable. His grades were dropping like stones and what was worse was he didn't really care. He did his homework quickly and without really thinking about it. Whenever he started on it, he just pictured Rose's face when he told her they couldn't be friends, and he sank into misery.

One day, he felt slightly better for just a little while, because he was able to completely destroy Sylvia Baker to her face.

She had approached him in the hallways, and asked, "Hey Malfoy. I heard you dumped Weasley. Smart move. You could do so much better."

He tried to ignore her and keep walking, but she ended up walking next to him. "You probably liked her for her brains. It can't really have been anything else, as she hasn't got anything else, but I promise you there are much smarter girls out there who are much prettier."

She had subtly put her arm around his. He tried to pull away and began walking faster, but she held on. "Take me, for instance."

And she pulled him close to her, but before she could say or doing anything else, he took out his wand and shouted "_Stupefy!"_ and she was blasted away from him.

He told the Head Boy, when confronted, that she had attacked him, which was close enough to the truth, and he had simply defended himself. The Head Boy was in Ravenclaw with Baker, unfortunately, and so placed him in detention doing lines.

Baker was very cold to him after that, but Scorpius didn't really care. Although, he made sure to sit as far from her in Herbology as he could, just in case.

He had long since stopped answering questions in class. He barely even listened the instructions Professor Longbottom was giving, and was therefore very grateful he had made up with Nott, so he could whisper the instructions back to him as they tried to prune the Venomous Tentacula.

After class, Professor Longbottom called for him to stay back a few minutes. "Is something wrong, Professor?"

Professor Longbottom assessed him for a long moment before speaking. "I've heard about the situation with Miss Weasley." Scorpius felt the blood drain out of his face. "Now, normally I don't get involved in my students personal lives, but you two are perhaps my brightest students of your year, and now you're both doing rather poorly." He looked down at the scroll in front of him, which Scorpius recognized as his latest piece of homework. "So, I recommend you either talk to her, or get your act together if you have any wish of passing your O.W.L.s."

Malfoy looked down, ashamed. "I knew your father in school." Professor Longbottom said, suddenly. Scorpius looked up. He knew very well they knew each other, his father had raged how an idiot like that could ever become a professor, but Scorpius thought very highly of Professor Longbottom "And whether you like it or not, you're not like him. Smarter, certainly, but you're also not a bully." Scorpius felt a strange mix of guilt, knowing Professor Longbottom had been on the receiving end of this bullying, and anger that a Professor was accusing his father, whom Scorpius admired a great deal. "Rose isn't much like her parents either." He continued, surprising Scorpius, "Oh, she's smart, like her mother, but she cares a lot more about being liked than either of her parents did. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work out for her, does it? Sometimes she's left all alone."

Scorpius didn't know what to say. He knew he had left Rose all alone, and he felt guilty about that but-

_But what?_ He thought to himself. His father would be angry? His father was always angry at something, even though it wasn't usually Scorpius. He had done everything his father wanted up until now, was he really so concerned that his father would hate him just because of a girl?

And wasn't he happier when he was with Rose? Didn't he do much better when he studied with her? Wouldn't that be enough to make his father proud?

Professor Longbottom smiled at him as he thought things over. Slowly, Scorpius nodded at him and turned to leave.

At that point, Professor Wallace, the Transfiguration teacher, burst into the room. "Neville!" She said exasperated, and then she saw Scorpius, "Malfoy, get out of here, now!"

Scorpius couldn't help it, though. He went out the door, but stopped there with his ear to the keyhole.

"Neville, it's Potter's child! And Weasley's too! They've been kidnapped!" He heard a frightened Professor Wallace say.

"What?" asked Professor Longbottom, "How? When?"

"We think they were sneaking out of the castle! The older boy, James, he found this note on their things!"

Scorpius heard paper shuffling behind the door, and then Professor Longbottom read out loud, "_Now you're child shall face the same consequences we did_. My god, this sounds like their going to kill them!"

"Professor Sprout has already contacted Harry Potter, he should be here soon with a company of Aurors, but I don't know-" What she didn't know, Scorpius never found out, because he had shot off towards the grand staircase.

He didn't even know which level the Gryffindor entrance was, but he knew it was up some levels. He knew there were plenty of other Weasleys it might have been, but he had to make sure.

_Please let her be okay_, he thought. _I have to apologize to her, please God let Rose be okay._


	5. Rescue Mission

As he reached the third level, he paused for a moment in panic. Had he passed the entrance? How would he recognize it? And if he recognized it, how would he get in?

He turned his head back down the staircase. Below him, three figures were coming out of the 2nd floor corridor and making their way down to the entrance hall. One of them had bushy red hair he would recognize anywhere.

He gasped and ran down the stairs, jumping two at a time. The person in front, James Potter, turned around to face him first, holding a map in front of him. His brother Albus and Rose followed his gaze and watched Scorpius run down the steps.

Before any of them could say anything or do anything, He grabbed hold of Rose and held her tightly. "God," he breathed, "I heard one of the Weasleys had been kidnapped, and I thought—I had to make sure you were okay."

Slowly, he let her go, and she broke away from him. "Why would you care?" Rose asked coldly. Her lip was quivering though, and he could see she had been crying.

He closed his eyes for a moment, gathered his strength and said, "I was stupid. I shouldn't have said those things. I-I'm sorry." He knew it was a lame apology, but he didn't know how to put it differently.

"Sorry?" She said angrily, but James interrupted,

"Leave off for now, Rose, we're running out of time." That was when Scorpius realized the three of them were wearing traveling cloaks. The three of them turned their backs on Scorpius and continued down the stairs.

"You're going to go save them? Wait," Scorpius said, "Who is it? I mean I assume your sister," he said to the Potters, "but which Weasley-?"

"My brother." Rose said, still not looking at him.

"I heard you're dad is on his way with a bunch of Aurors. What do you think you can do that they can't-"

"They won't get there in time." Albus said, not looking at Scorpius either. Scorpius began to walk slightly behind them.

"Get where in time? How do you know where they are?" None of them said anything this time, but he could have sworn he saw James' hand twitch, and Scorpius noticed he was holding a rather old piece of parchment

"Why don't you tell Professor Sprout where they are? Aren't the teachers better able to handle this-"

"We did" Rose interrupted.

"They said it was better to wait until the Aurors got here, but-"

"They won't get here in time." Scorpius finished. "Let me come with you."

In almost complete synchronization, all three of them stopped and looked up at him.

"No." James said, firmly.

"I'm just as good at defense magic as any of you." He said, but the three had already started walking down again. They were almost at the entrance hall. "Unless you want me to go tell Professor Sprout." He called after them. They stopped again and looked at him. He couldn't help noticing that Rose was positively glaring at him.

"Fine." James said. There was no doubt he was leading this group. "Come along, but don't expect us save you if you fall behind."

"I can take care of myself." Scorpius said as they continued down the steps. He tried to walk alongside Rose, but she sped up and walked next to Albus.

"Hold on," James said, and the group came to a stop. He looked at the old piece of parchment in his hand and said, "Professor Jameson is coming. Hide!"

"What do mean? How do you know-?" but he was silenced as Rose pulled him down behind a statue put a finger to her lips to silence him. He saw the Potter boys crouch behind a statue across the room from them.

He realized she was trying to avoid his gaze, but there wasn't much room to avoid his touch. He tried to communicate all he wanted to say to her silently but she shook her head to get him to stop.

Then, he heard footsteps approaching. He automatically went still and listened with all his might. Was that really Professor Jameson? How had James known that?

The footsteps were getting closer. He saw Rose try and peek around the statue, but he also saw her shoelace was untied and she was stepping on it. If she leaned over anymore she would-

Rose slipped on the floor and gasped as she reached out a hand to steady herself. Scorpius grabbed her arm to keep her steady, but it was too late she had made noise and there was no doubt Professor Jameson had heard her.

Rose was panicking. Her adrenaline level was already high. If they got caught now-

She heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, and her mind started racing, trying to think up some explanation as to why they would be crouching behind a statue in the entrance hall, but Scorpius was one step ahead of her.

Before she could stop him, he had grabbed her and kissed her hard.

"Miss Weasley! Mister Malfoy!" Professor Jameson said over them, as the two split apart. "All students have been confined to their houses until the Aurors can come to solve this matter. I would have thought, Miss Weasley, given the current situation, you would be waiting for news on your brother. I'm very disappointed. Ten points from Slytherin and Gryffindor. Now get back to your dormitories." Professor Jameson apparently did not have time to actually make sure they did, as he sped away from them, up the staircase.

Scorpius got up first, and then he helped Rose. On the other side of the room, Albus and James were coming out from behind the statue. "Is everyone gone?" Rose whispered to James.

James nodded. Scorpius frowned, "I still don't see how you know-ow! Rose!" Rose had punched him on the arm.

"That is for kissing me."

"I was trying to think up an excuse for us being out and-ow!" She had punched him on the other arm.

"That is for breaking up with me and then thinking sorry would just make it all better."

"Okay, well, I deserved that, but-ow! Stop that!"

"And that is for just being you, Malfoy."

She turned around and went outside. She heard the others following behind her but didn't look. She slowed down enough just to let James take the lead, but made sure there was plenty of distance between her and Malfoy.

She honestly wasn't sure this plan would work. They had only seen the corners of two names at the edge of the map, and James had said they must be Lily and Hugo, so she was pretty sure whoever had taken the two wanted them far from the school. The problem was that it was deep within the forbidden forest. She had never even been in the forest before, though she had heard plenty of what was in there from her parents and Uncle Harry. But, to save Hugo, she would do anything.

She wished that Dominique hadn't fainted on hearing the news of the kidnapping. It would have been better to have another seventh year in their group.

Roxanne had wanted to join them too, but James had put his foot down on including a first year in the group. He wasn't responsible often, but when it came to his relatives, he was very protective. Roxanne was helping a little though. She had come up with a cover story of where they were in case someone came looking for them. Rose didn't know what that story was, as they had left too quickly and hadn't asked, but Roxanne could be a quick thinker if it came to that.

She would have preferred Roxanne over Scorpius, though. _Malfoy,_ she thought to herself. _He's not Scorpius to me anymore, he's just Malfoy._ If her brother hadn't been in mortal peril, she would really like to yell at him for a good long time. And hit him more.

"Are we heading to the Forbidden Forest?" Malfoy called to them.

"Scared, Malfoy?" Albus said. He was not usually mean to anyone, but Rose was grateful he chose Malfoy as the one to be mean to.

"No, I just thought, you know, there are some things in there, like werewolves, and acromantulas, and stuff." Rose kept herself from shuddering. She had inherited her father's fear of spiders.

"We don't have to worry about that." James said. "We just have to get to Lily and Hugo."

"Yeah, but it's a full moon tonight, so werewolves would be something to worry about." Malfoy muttered.

"Shut up, or go back, Malfoy." Rose said, though she had to admit his words shook her. What if they did run into a werewolf after dark?

But she couldn't think like that. She had to be strong, for Hugo.

She looked back at Malfoy, and instead of feeling angry that he was there, she was grateful they had another wand.


	6. The Forbidden Forest

All four of them lit their wands the instant they entered the forest, even though there was still some daylight left. Rose found herself reacting to every little sound they came across.

After James tripped over the fourth tree root while he was trying to lead them and look at the map at the same time, Albus came forward so he could keep James steady if nothing else.

Rose found herself soon walking beside Malfoy, but she was so scared, she didn't even mind as she would have if they had been absolutely anywhere but there.

"I know 'sorry' isn't enough," Malfoy whispered to her so Albus and James wouldn't hear, "But it's all I have. If I could, I would turn back time so I could stop myself from saying those things, I would, but I don't happen to have a time-turner handy, so sorry will have to do."

"Malfoy, we're in the Forbidden Forest and we have to go and make sure my brother and cousin don't die, while not dying ourselves." She whispered back "This isn't exactly the time." She almost jumped as she felt something touch her hand, but she realized it was just Malfoy reaching out to hold it.

"That's why I need to apologize now, though. What if we die on this little adventure? I can't die without you forgiving me, Rose." Rose looked into his eyes. Even from the dim wand light, she could see he was blushing profusely and absolutely begging her with his eyes.

Rose opened her mouth, closed it again, and then said, "Fine. Okay, I forgive you."

Silently Malfoy smiled and put her hand within his. She smiled back at him. She had to admit, she felt a lot better having someone on her side.

"They're just up ahead." James whispered back to them. Suddenly the night air was filled with a little girls scream. They all hid beneath trees.

"_Muffliato_." Scorpius whispered in the direction of the scream. Rose was glad he had, because at that moment she stepped on a branch and it cracked.

James gestured for them to move forward. Slowly, they slinked forward. Hiding behind trees, Rose saw Lily and Hugo tied up to a tree. She was about to jump forward, but Scorpius held her down. James was about to leap forward himself, but Scorpius managed to hold him down too. "Listen, for a change, Potter. We might learn more about what we're up against."

"Oh, wait, this might help." Albus said digging through his cloak. He pulled out an extendable ear. Rose frowned at him. "I confiscated it." He explained. He fed the cord to the small clearing.

"Please," they heard Lily say out of one end, "Please, our parents will give you anything you want, just let us go!"

"You're parents can't get us revenge," Said a rough male voice

"I thought you said you weren't Death Eaters!" Hugo yelled at them.

"Oh, we're not," said a raspy female voice.

"No, we hate Death Eaters, and anyone who supported Voldemort." The man said

"But there are a lot more of those supporters than people think." The woman sounded as if she had just recently regained her voice. There was a moments pause, and then she said. "Voldemort didn't kill our father. No, that was the work of the ministry. The ministry supported Voldemort. The ministry hunted down our father. The ministry sent one of their dogs after me when my mother wouldn't tell them where he was, and yet your father did nothing against the precious ministry. How many Death Eaters did your father let go? How many people killed off muggles and muggleborns, and yet were free to walk the streets once the war was over? But just as I was forced to pay for crimes my father didn't commit, you will pay for your fathers' crimes!"

"What are you going to do to us?" Lily moaned.

"Oh, we're going to let you have what the Death Eaters let my poor little sister here have," Said the male voice "Who knows what will happen? She survived, so maybe you both will be lucky, and you'll both survive a werewolf attack. But I doubt it."

Rose gasped, and she felt Scorpius stiffen beside her. James looked furious, and Albus petrified. "Okay," Scorpius said quietly, even though the Muffliato spell already prevented the other group from hearing them, "now we know what we're up against."

"Yeah," said Albus, "But no way of being able to stop it."

"I have an idea." Scorpius said, but James talked over him.

"I do too, we go in there, stupefy the crazy werewolf and her brother, grab Lily and Hugo and run."

Scorpius shook his head, "So like a Gryffindor. You just want to barge in there, against two fully-grown wizards, one of whom is a werewolf? And you want to come out of this alive?"

"Is your idea better?" James asked him furiously.

"It is, as a matter of fact. First of all, Rose, I need you to run back to school. Your Uncle needs to know which direction to go to find us, and he needs to know he's up against a werewolf."

"Why me?" Rose asked, just as furiously as James.

"Because your fastest.

Rose knew this was a lie, she was no faster than James, so she hesitated.

"Don't worry about us, my father taught me a way to deal with werewolves. Now go, there isn't any time to argue." And so she ran.

"Did your father really teach you how to deal with werewolves?" Albus asked.

"No," Scorpius admitted, "But I had to get Rose out of here, didn't I? I do have an idea though." He started searching the ground with his hands and found a thin stick that would have to do.

"What are you doing?" James asked.

"You'll see." Scorpius said as he started picking off the spare twigs and leaves. He hoped in the dark it would fool the kidnappers. "Now, I'm going to go distract them. You two should sneak around the back, and when the time is right, cut Lily and Hugo free and run like hell. If all goes well, I'll be right behind you." Scorpius stuffed his wand up his sleeve and held the stick in his hand. "Alright, here I go, wish me luck."

James and Albus watched him go silently. Scorpius slowly approached the small clearing on the opposite side of where Lily and Hugo were tied up.

Very purposefully, he raised his arms into the air, holding the stick up like a wand, and stepped on a twig so that it snapped.

The kidnappers whirled around to face him, their own wands raised. They didn't look that old, even though the girl was gray.

"Whoa!" Scorpius said, raising his arms slightly higher. He could feel his wand slip up his sleeve. "Calm yourselves, I came to make you an offer."

"Offer?" The man said, "For what?"

"Let these two go, and take me in their place." Scorpius said, going completely against his instincts.

"And why would we want you?" The woman said. "Who are you?

"My name is Scorpius Malfoy. My father and my grandparents were all death eaters, and yet today they are free to do as they please." Over their shoulders, Scorpius saw James and Albus approaching the clearing. "My great-aunt was Bellatrix Lestrange, who was responsible for countless murders. My Grandfather was even sent to Azkaban for a short time, and Harry Potter knows! He sent him there, and yet after the war, he let them roam free." It was working. The kidnappers were now concentrating all of their fury on him. Behind them, James was using a non-verbal spell to slowly cut the ropes on Lily and Hugo.

"So, I'm offering myself up for them." Scorpius said, and he dropped the stick, which he hoped the kidnappers would mistake for a wand. "Take me instead."

"Or," the woman said nastily, "We could take you and keep the other children. Nemsis!" She yelled at her brother, "Grab him and tie him up with the others-" She stopped, and as she turned around to face Lily and Hugo, who were now being helped down by Albus and James, Scorpius reached for his wand in his sleeve and yelled "_Stupefy!_" the brother froze on the spot but the sister turned on him and silently put Scorpius in a full body-bind. She watched as James, Albus, Lily, and Hugo started to make a run for it. She sent a spell after them, but it missed and hit a tree.

"_Ennervate!_" She yelled at her brother. Slowly, he got up off of the ground. "Go, you idiot, go after them!" The brother nodded, pulled himself together and ran after the others.

Scorpius lay there helpless as the woman approached. "That was very stupid," She said looking straight down at him, her grey hair framing her face like a twisted halo, "Now there's only one of you, which means your chances of survival are minimal." She picked him up with one hand and threw him up against a tree. Ropes came out of her wand and trapped him against it. Once she was sure he was so tightly trapped he could not escape, she took off the full body bind. "I like my victims to scream when I eat them." She snarled at him.

This was like Scorpius' own personal living nightmare. In fact, if he had to picture the worst scenario he could be put in, it would be him, helpless to defend himself against an impending werewolf attack.

He thought of Rose. Would she cry, when her uncle came out of the forest with only his mangled body? Would she think him a hero for saving her cousins, or stupid, because it would have been obvious to her that his plan would never work?

Would she even be okay herself? Would she try and come back with her uncle to save him? She hoped her uncle would protect her and keep her from coming, but he didn't know.

All he knew was he was more scared than he had been in his entire life.


	7. Attack

**LAST CHAPTER! I hope you like it.**

Scorpius went through his pockets, which was incredibly difficult given the ropes that bound him. He glanced over at the woman who had taken to sitting on a rock and simply watching him.

He wished he had thought to bring something like a knife, or anything else which would have cut through the ropes.

"There's no point." She told him. Even though it wasn't quite time for the transformation, her eyes already looked wolfish, as though she was picturing how tasty he would be.

"If you really hate Death Eaters so much," Scorpius said to her, mainly to distract her from his frantic search for some sharp object than anything, "Then why do you use the same tactics as them?" She didn't answer him. "Going after the children of people you believe wronged you? How does that make you any different than them?"

"They owe me the life of my father. They will pay with your life."

Suddenly, he felt a thin piece of wood touch his arm. When the woman had put him in a body bind, his wand must have slipped back up his sleeve. But could he get it out in time?

"My family has turned their life around, now." Scorpius said. "They're respectable members of society, now. They try and help people, they paid for some of the memorials of the war. I think that's why Harry Potter let them and the others go, to give them a second chance." Scorpius shook his arm, trying to get his wand to fall into his hand.

"Well," The woman said, "His mistake."

With one movement, his wand fell down his sleeve and he caught it in his hand. There was no way he could cut through the ropes without her noticing and stopping him. Perhaps, while she transformed, he could cut himself free and run for it. How long did it take for a werewolf to transform? He hoped it would be long enough for him to get away.

He didn't know how long he hung on the tree, waiting, but all too soon, the woman groaned in pain and fell on the ground.

Quietly, Scorpius whispered, "_Diffindo_," and the ropes began to cut away. Once the last rope was cut, he fell to the ground, tearing his robes. He looked up at the woman, whose face had already started lengthening into a snout, and her arms began to resemble paws.

He stared horrified for a moment, but then got up as fast as he could, stumbling quite a bit over his robes, and ran for it.

He must have been running for less than a minute before he heard the sound of something large chasing him. There was no way he would be able to outrun a werewolf, but he had to try. He ran like he never had before, but he knew it wouldn't be enough.

A pain like nothing he had ever felt shot through his leg. Some part of him knew he had been bitten by the werewolf, but most of him just screamed in unending agony.

He couldn't think. He couldn't breath, he just lay there screaming.

Suddenly, the pressure was gone from his leg as he felt the wolf release him. His leg was still, however, in agony, so he just lay there.

_I'm going to die_ he thought as he lay there, even though he thought he heard voices above him, _I'm going to die._

Scorpius woke up from his restless sleep in St. Mungos. His parents had come to see him every day, his mother sobbing and his father looking stunned, as thought this couldn't be happening.

The healers had told him the others had made it out all right, and that Harry Potter and the other Aurors had arrived just in time to save his life, but it was too late, because the werewolf had already bitten him and there was nothing they could do about it.

He had said he didn't want any visitors except his parents. Truth be told, he didn't want his parents there either, but there was no helping that. He couldn't bear the looks of sorrow and pity. He had heard the healers call him a hero, but he knew they were wrong. He wasn't a hero. He was an idiot.

Why did he volunteer to go help? To save Rose, he answered himself, but why didn't he just let them all run in, stunners flying, and take the werewolf and her brother by surprise? Because he hadn't thought of it, he told himself, because the plan he thought up seemed more foolproof, at least at the time.

At least his parents had managed to get him his own room at St. Mungos, but in the lonely hours of the night like this, it only made him feel more frightened.

In the dark, he thought he saw the door twitch open. He stared at it to see who would come through and why, but nobody did. It just opened slowly and then closed.

But then, out of thin air it seemed, Rose Weasley appeared beside his bed.

Scorpius gasped in surprise, but Rose quickly put her hand over his mouth to stop him from making any noise. "I'm not supposed to be here," She whispered.

"I'll say," said Scopius, "How did you get in here?"

She lifted up a piece of silky material, but he couldn't see what it was in the dark, "Uncle Harry let me borrow his invisibility cloak. Why didn't you let me come and see you during visiting hours?" she asked.

Scorpius turned away from her. "I didn't want you to see my like this." He had seen himself in the mirror. His pale hair was streaked with gray, and his face was sickly and practically white.

Rose shook her head. "James and Albus said you were a hero. They said you gave yourself up for Lily and Hugo."

Scorpius shook his head. "I was lying. I was just distracting them. There was nothing-brave-about it."

Rose shook her head. "You should have been a Gryffindor." She told him.

"Ouch, low blow." He said to her. He gave her a half smile which she returned.

"They're talking about giving you all sorts of awards. Special services to the school, Order of Merlin first class,"

"I don't want any of that," He said quickly.

She didn't say anything for a moment, apparently deciding to switch tactics. "You know, everyone's blaming themselves. Professors Longbottom and Wallace both think they should have made sure you didn't hear about the kidnapping, Professor Jameson thinks he should have made sure you got back to your common room, Uncle Harry says he should have gotten there faster, James thinks he shouldn't have let you come with us, Albus thinks they should have helped you get away, and I-"

"I wanted you to run," Scorpius interrupted her, "I didn't want anything to happen to you." He looked her in the eyes, he could see them slowly filling with tears. He started talking about something else to distract her.

"Did your Uncle mention who those lunatics were? I never really caught their names."

She blinked away her tears and nodded. "Nemsis and Adolfa Cresswell. Apparently, their father, Dirk Cresswell, was a convicted muggleborn during the second wizard war. Uncle Harry said someone at the ministry had to fake his family tree to convict him, but he had to go into hiding, until he was killed. The ministry put pressure on his wife to tell them where he was hiding, until Fenrir Greyback went after the younger girl, Adolfa. She was only eight years old."

"Don't expect me to feel sorry for her," He said. He could still feel his leg hurt, no matter how many potions the healers gave him for the pain.

"No, of course not," she said, "Well, anyway, the two of them decided that it was all the ministry's fault, and when those people in the ministry weren't arrested, well, you saw. They went a little-"

"Crazy?" He supplied.

"That about sums it up. Well, Uncle Harry caught both of them. They're going to trial. My mom's taking the prosecution herself." Scorpius nodded. If her mom was anything like Rose, the Cresswells were as good as in Azkaban.

"You know," she continued, "She and Dad practically worship the ground you walk on now. Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny too. I don't think any of them thought they would owe a life to a Malfoy."

"Well, first time for everything." He smiled at her. He tried to get her to return his smile, but he could see the tears building up behind her eyes. "Rose, Rose please don't cry! You—ow! Rose, that hurt!"

She had once again punched him on the arm. "That," her voice broke, "Is for lying to me. I would have wanted to help. You remember that next time we're in a life threatening situation." Scorpius nodded, but she had punched him again, although considerably lighter. "That is for not letting anyone come and see you. Even Albus and James think highly of you now, and Lily and Hugo wanted to thank you, and I just plain wanted to make sure you were okay!"

"Fine! Sorry!" Scorpius said, "Honestly, I was attacked by a werewolf and you start punching me? Really?" he swallowed. It was the first time he had admitted out loud that he, in fact, was a werewolf. His insides felt like they had collapsed on themselves.

She seemed to sense this, so she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, "That is for saving my brother and cousin. This," she kissed his other cheek, "is for coming back alive, and this is just for being you, Scorpius Malfoy," and so she kissed him full on the mouth. He held her there going through her hair with his hand, until he broke away from her suddenly.

"No," he said, "No we can't do this."

"Why?" She leaned toward him again.

"Because I'm a werewolf." He said trying not to look at her. "You deserve someone who isn't a werewolf."

She shook her head and pulled his chin so he looked directly into his eyes. "Scorpius, even if somehow, you became a werewolf in some completely unrelated incident, and hadn't risked your life to save my brother and cousin, I would still be here, because-" she paused for a moment, and finished, "Because, I think I love you."

Scorpius swallowed. "I love you too Rose." She smiled at him and brushed hair out of his face with her hand. "Rose?" He asked in a strained voice he didn't even recognize, "I don't want to be a werewolf!" and then, as if he had been holding them in ever since the night of the attack, he started sobbing like a lost child. He told her everything about how he was scared for his first transformation, and how he didn't want to tell his parents because they were upset enough, and how he was scared that no one in school would be friends with him now, because he wasn't sure he could hide the fact now that he looked so different, and would soon gain a multitude of scars that he couldn't explain.

She held him tightly like he actually was a child, and gave some words of encouragement, how she would always be his friend, how his real friends wouldn't care how he looked, and how James was even now making sure everyone stopped making fun of him. She reinforced her words with a kiss every once in a while, and kept repeating, "Don't worry. I will be there for you, no matter what."


End file.
